Tourists have Arrived!

We have our first visitors!  Alec and Ames have arrived with fab sun tans from Dominican Republic - sun's out here so Alec is in the pool - our pool is 'Man or Boy' as our mate G would say - you need to be a man to brave it!!

Here's the Man in the pool

Alec about to brave the cold!

Pics by the pool

Went out for a Chinese - Chinese chillies are way too hot for Al and D!!

Ames discovered our hot chair on the patio - right in the corner and a major sun trap - whenever there was hot sun Ames was in the chair with her sun tan lotion.

Ames on the patio - not in the hot chair!

Quite a bit of walking was done in the 3 days!
Mogs and Ames walked on further than the boys and came back to find them asleep in Vannie!!

At the top of the tower

Ames and Als liked the local market - kept buying stuff -we think Al has plans to start a sunglasses shop!  We packed as much as we could into the 3 days they were here.

Dave and Als in Mojacar Town

The Old Town

View from the top

Much needed drink in our local bar after all the walking!

We had a great time when our tourists were here and it was lovely to see them.

What's the weather Dave?

25.7 in the shade....40.0 in the sun!

D has a new gadget and has moved from being Guitar Man to Weather Man! We are given frequent temperature updates - I think I am on tour with a geek!

Under the Hammer

We needed some sunbeds for the apartment and someone told us to go to the Auction at Antas - we came back with:

a new double bed
new cooker
coffee machine
toasted sandwich maker
heater for the van in winter
books
42" flat screen TV
............and some sunbeds!!!

I think we got a bit excited and Mogs got a bit carried away with her paddle - they give you a paddle with a number on to hold up when you're bidding.

D: "Mogs don't go higher than 10 euros"
Auction Man: "Do I hear 15, 15 I'm bid"....

At 15 euros D's pulling the paddle off her!!

All good fun though and we got some good stuff for the apartment at good prices - we did have to send the TV back though as the screen had shadows on it.

We're on a Mid-week Break (on holiday)

Mog's friend and running buddy Sam was coming over for a holiday an hour and a half up the road in Sucina on a well posh golf course so we set off in Vannie for a mid-week break to see her.  It was great to see her over here in Spain and meet her brother Chris and girlfriend Stef.  They had a hot tub in the garden of their villa and after lots of gossiping and catching up - and beers - we headed into the tub with a bottle of bubbly - heaven! Mogs is really missing her hot tub!

Bubbly in the hot tub!

Spent the day chilling and chatting and Mogs and Sam had a lovely run around the golf course in the morning - but VERY windy!  It was great to run with Sam again and do more chatting while running :)

Sam's hoping to come out and visit us later on our tour in August - we're buying a pop up tent to take with us so we have a spare room for Russ who has booked and any other visitors!

It was then time to head back to Mojacar via a camping van shop and Ikea in Murcia.  Got a few bits for the kitchen in Ikea and some bits for the van - essentials for our travels.  After the paddle waving at the Auction we are now on a very tight budget and not going there again!!

Our Local

Neo's is our local bar at the end of the road that we really enjoy going to - the owner and staff are lovely and so are the free tapas you get with your drinks.  It's right on the beach and is a very cool beach club bar with good lighting that Dave loves - the bar is lit up a different colour for every night.

Video showing view from the terrace

Inside the Bar

Restaurant in Neo's with lovely sea view

We are just off there now for an early evening drink in the sun ........

Next tourists to arrive are Eth and his girlfriend Samia on 30 March followed by Mog's friend Chris - M feels some 'wine o'clock's' approaching!

Route and Randoms

Planning our Route

 

Above is a rough idea of where we are hoping to go this summer - we leave Mojacar on 15 April and need to go back to the UK to MOT the van so doing the Santander - Plymouth crossing on the first map.  Then over to Dover for the Calais crossing on the second map.

This is a very rough route that will change but below are some of the places we want to go to with a few links:

Madrid Marathon
Monte Carlo Grand Prix
Venice
Rome
Amalfi Coast
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Castle - Germany
Mosel and Rhine Valleys
Bruges
Dunkirk
and too many more to mention at the moment!

Please do let us know of any places you recommend - either via here, email or Facebook......

We're enjoying our Winter in Mojacar - it's lovely waking up to blue skies every morning but as soon as the sun goes in the evening is pretty cold!  Gas fire is on some nights...

Here are a few random things we've been up to in the last few months:

Ribbon For Life Day

February 3rd was Ribbon for Life Day in Mojacar Playa to raise money for cancer charities.  Pink ribbons were on sale and the town was trying to break the world record for the longest length of tied ribbons.  You could buy a ribbon and write a message on it if you wished - we did and added ours to the collection of ribbons.  The ribbons were about 2 ft long and ladies spent all day tying them together and they stretched for miles along the Playa.  The record was broken - below is a report and photo that our local radio station Spectrum put on Facebook.

Spectrum FM Costa Almeria

STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS...
The final figure raised at last Sunday's 'Ribbon for Life' Day on Mojacar playa is in excess of €12,000. CONGRATULATIONS to Bronia and the team from A.E.C.C. The documentation for the recording breaking 5550 metres of tied ribbon has been sent to The Guinness Book of World Records for ratification.

There was loads going on during the day - live groups, displays, classic cars, beer and wine stand (we stood by there of course!) and a huge paella was cooked.  There was a massive queue for the paella but we were very unBritish and stood with some Spanish men and got ours handed over the fence at the back - result!  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

The Paella

 

Dave liked the classic cars!

 

Sunset Boulevard

This happens every 2 - 3 weeks and we get a stunning sunset - we don't often have cloud but when we do and the sun goes down it looks spectacular over the mountains and beach.  The video below doesn't do it justice - you need to be here to see it.

 

 

"Working 9 - 5"

Well maybe not that long and not such an early start!  But we have been doing some decorating in the apartment and here's Dave attacking the patio wall with his roller brush.  We'll post a pic of the finished patio in the next blog with a new Bourganvillea plant to climb up the wall and other stuff - it's looking good.

Christmas Decs Spanish Style

Everything on this random bit of the blog is way out of order but never mind!  Christmas is a bit different in Spain - they don't decorate their houses like we do at home with lights and Santas and stuff!  Well not in Mojacar anyway.  Instead they plant poinsettias on all the mini roundabouts (there are quite a lot here - the Spanish like their roundabouts!) and put a red carpet outside the chemist - you can just see in pic below at the end of our road.  There were a few xmas deccie shaped lights along the Playa but that's all - we didn't really feel 'Christmasy' till we got back to cold UK for our visit there!  When we got back nearly all the poinsettias had been stolen!!

Facial Hair

Dave not Mogs!!  Dave has tried various beards and Movember looks over the last few months - we reckon the best goatee look is the current one - his Johnny Depp look:)  We had the snowboarding look for the snow trip that involved a bit more hair!

Training Runs

Mogs has been running lots and upping the mileage for the Marathon training.  In the past her training buddy Annie used to cycle on long runs and hand out gels and drinks so Dave has taken over this job!  Here's some pics taken on some of our training runs - there's fab runs and bike rides both along the coast and in the mountains and dry river beds.

13 mile run through the hills - upping the distance now! 10th Feb

 

Sea front run

 



 

Running through the dry river bed

 

 

We got lost on this run (Mogs directions!) and ended up way high up in a village! Dave was on bike Mogs running.

 

Run along the beach

 

Guitar Man

Dave is playing loads of guitar - he learnt 16 songs in one day!  Ask Guitar Man to play any song and he can now - even the Bubble!  But he has to find a video of it first on YouTube and it has to be quite easy - he says.  Our next blog may include a clip of him playing....

 

Greys on Trays

Not blogged for a while and finding it hard to start so we've added a lot of photos for you!!

 

Mogs big birthday was coming up on 1st February and wanted to do something different - so we decided to go snowboarding - never done before and the ski resort is only 3 hours away in the mountains - Sierra Nevada.

 

www.sierranevada.es

 

http://www.sierranevada.co.uk/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=33&Itemid=448&lang=en

 

On the way to the Mountains

In the Mountains
The road from Granada was way high up and very steep and scary - Dave drove Vannie really well - Mogs was  too scared to open her eyes and take pics!
Here's some pics of the not so scary bits of the route up....
 

 

 At the Mountains!

 

View from Hotel Window

 

 

 

Off to the Slopes!

 

Snowboarding is way harder than it looks - we can't do it! We were rubbish but good fun trying plus we looked good wandering round with our snowboards by the bar!!  Ski hire gear was a bit geeky though!



 

Sore bums at end! And sunburnt faces - it was boiling at the top

 

What's Alec doing here? Look closely behind Dave!....

Dave's son has a double

 

 

 

Video on the Slopes

 

 

 

 

End of a hard day's snowboarding.... 

 

 

  

 

Sunrise from the Hotel Window

  

It's my Birthday!!

Had cards and prezzies arriving in Spain and lots of Facebook messages :)

 

 

 

Mogs fab prezzy from Dave, Kez & Sam - Garmin 610 GPS running watch :)

Even tells you how to get home if you get lost - definitely need that!

 Great trip to the mountains -  it's the only ski resort where you can have snow in the morning and be on the beach in the afternoon.  We came back and jumped in the pool to finish off the Birthday Weekend!